Chapter Text
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One foot, in front of the other. In front of the other, in front of the next.
Walking away from the Doctor, from the TARDIS, was both harder and easier than Martha had expected [the last of her wanderlust burned out right around Japan]. She’d meant every word of it, after all.
Of getting out, and having people to care for. Of why she'd needed to stay, to stop running after him because her feet ached and her family needed her and—well.
So without further ado, Martha opened the gate, strode in, and nonchalantly closed it, as if it was just another day. And if the iron door closed with a clang that sounded unnervingly like a Toclofane tearing through a rusted car several dozen yards away, well, it still wasn't the worst she'd heard. She smiled at her mother as she walked in, and they all hear the grating noise that the TARDIS makes, as it heads out into the unknown.
Martha is acutely aware of what is to follow in his wake, and sure enough, UNIT contacts them about debriefing about the events of the Year. [Everyone involved silently agreed that it merited the capitalization.]
Leo is the one to call them; they’d planned on calling him to break the news to him, but he’s very confused and wants to know if his family’s okay, because he came back from his walk and heard his entire family was under suspicion and “possibly called in by MI5 on charges of terrorism, what was going on, and were they okay?”
Martha’s the one who tells him, stony-faced and focused on a very interesting part of the ceiling [the paint’s a bit chipped, how did she not notice that?], and answers his questions.
She felt guilt over having possibly been the reason [she knew she was the reason] for the Master’s interest in her family. [She knows it’s not her fault, but. She was so, so sorry, and damn if that didn’t make her sound like the Doctor.] The phantom taste of ash in the back of her throat's as strong as it was just after Japan, and...well.
She'd competed her main objective, had walked through the ruins of her world to spread the story.
They'd won, the madman was dead, so why did she feel like that was the easy part? That defeating the man who'd orchestrated the destruction of her home planet was somehow easier than helping her family heal?
It took Captain Jack Harness less than four minutes to find a Martha Jones, living in London, and with an interest in the medical field, when he’d gotten back from...from his latest adventure [from the Year that Never Was]. He hadn't needed to look up much, given there was only one who looked like she'd be knee-deep in UNIT affairs by sundown, but it was nice to have that note on her profile as confirmation.
He’d also seen the irony of the Doctor taking on a medical student, and couldn’t quite smother the [semi-hysterical] laugh that erupted when he’d seen how far she'd been through clinical rotations when [he’d ] they’d barreled into her life. He hadn't known her very well, apart from their fleeting first meeting. He'd gotten to know her more through her family during his time on the Valiant [no, don't think about it] than anything else, but he recognized the look in her eyes after the Year far too easily for him to feel comfortable just leaving her be. Perhaps he was projecting, but he had the feeling she'd want a friendly ear sometime, and...well. Might as well take the plunge.
Jack called her up as soon as reasonably possible, and invited her for a drink if she was ever in Cardiff.
It soon becomes a habit to call each other, and that’s how he finds out.